Scientists have surpassed the speed of light!

joshrogan

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BREAKING_LIGHT_SPEED?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

GENEVA (AP) -- A fundamental pillar of physics - that nothing can go faster than the speed of light - appears to be smashed by an oddball subatomic particle that has apparently made a giant end run around Albert Einstein's theories.
Scientists at the world's largest physics lab said Thursday they have clocked neutrinos traveling faster than light. That's something that according to Einstein's 1905 special theory of relativity - the famous E (equals) mc2 equation - just doesn't happen.
"The feeling that most people have is this can't be right, this can't be real," said James Gillies, a spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, outside the Swiss city of Geneva.
Gillies told The Associated Press that the readings have so astounded researchers that they are asking others to independently verify the measurements before claiming an actual discovery.
"They are inviting the broader physics community to look at what they've done and really scrutinize it in great detail, and ideally for someone elsewhere in the world to repeat the measurements," he said Thursday.
Scientists at the competing Fermilab in Chicago have promised to start such work immediately.
"It's a shock," said Fermilab head theoretician Stephen Parke, who was not part of the research in Geneva. "It's going to cause us problems, no doubt about that - if it's true."
The Chicago team had similar faster-than-light results in 2007, but those came with a giant margin of error that undercut its scientific significance.
Outside scientists expressed skepticism at CERN's claim that the neutrinos - one of the strangest well-known particles in physics - were observed smashing past the cosmic speed barrier of 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers per second).
University of Maryland physics department chairman Drew Baden called it "a flying carpet," something that was too fantastic to be believable.
CERN says a neutrino beam fired from a particle accelerator near Geneva to a lab 454 miles (730 kilometers) away in Italy traveled 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light. Scientists calculated the margin of error at just 10 nanoseconds, making the difference statistically significant. But given the enormous implications of the find, they still spent months checking and rechecking their results to make sure there was no flaws in the experiment.
"We have not found any instrumental effect that could explain the result of the measurement," said Antonio Ereditato, a physicist at the University of Bern, Switzerland, who was involved in the experiment known as OPERA.
The CERN researchers are now looking to the United States and Japan to confirm the results.
A similar neutrino experiment at Fermilab near Chicago would be capable of running the tests, said Stavros Katsanevas, the deputy director of France's National Institute for Nuclear and Particle Physics Research. The institute collaborated with Italy's Gran Sasso National Laboratory for the experiment at CERN.
Katsanevas said help could also come from the T2K experiment in Japan, though that is currently on hold after the country's devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Scientists agree if the results are confirmed, that it would force a fundamental rethink of the laws of nature.
Einstein's special relativity theory that says energy equals mass times the speed of light squared underlies "pretty much everything in modern physics," said John Ellis, a theoretical physicist at CERN who was not involved in the experiment. "It has worked perfectly up until now."
He cautioned that the neutrino researchers would have to explain why similar results weren't detected before, such as when an exploding star - or supernova - was observed in 1987.
"This would be such a sensational discovery if it were true that one has to treat it extremely carefully," said Ellis.
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Time travel here we come :cool:

RachaelVO

Yay for time travel, maybe we can go back to before you started this thread :pac:

orourkeda

That einstein isnt so clever now is he?

Chris P. Bacon

I have said it before and ill say it again,unless they invent hoverboards i dont care!

Orando Broom

Cüntin Neuthrinos.

Latchy

I can't wait for the Movie .

Captain_Generic

All I can picture is a scientist with a radar gun

Let's not sensationalise here please. Scientists have done a series of experiments, and their data show a very surprising result: that neutrino's were travelling faster than the speed of light. As a result they have published their data so that other scientists can examine them and see what's going on.

If this is found to be true, it would turn general and special relativity upside down, and these are two very well tested theories.

It is possible that this is due to some as of yet undiscovered experimental error.

fontanalis

Were they driving a twin cam with one of those real cool No Fear stickers on it?

opinion guy

I love paradigm shifts.

I used to argue the LHC was a massive waste of money but damn it its worth it for how much its proving all the theories wrong:D

Usually when there are amazing results that defy the laws of physics, they find an error and when corrected produces a boring result.

There was no back to the future moment here....

MrStuffins

Deleted User wrote: »

Let's not sensationalise here please. Scintists have done a series of experiments, and their data show a very surprising result: that neutrino's were travelling faster than the speed of light. As a result they have published their data so that other scientists can examine them and see what's going on.

If this is found to be true, it would turn general and special relativity upside down, and these are two very well tested theories.

It is possible that this is due to some as of yet undiscovered experimental error.

It's not an error.

I've just gone forward to next week when the results are published!

Kevin Duffy

I so hope this is true, just for the general advancement of science.

orourkeda

opinion guy wrote: »

I love paradigm shifts.

I used to argue the LHC was a massive waste of money but damn it its worth it for how much its proving all the theories wrong:D

I used to argue the KFC was a massive waste of money

MrStuffins

opinion guy wrote: »

I love paradigm shifts.

I used to argue the LHC was a massive waste of money but damn it its worth it for how much its proving all the theories wrong:D

I always thought that the LHC would succeed in serendipidously discovering something massive! I hope this is it!

RachaelVO

Deleted User wrote: »

Let's not sensationalise here please. Scientists have done a series of experiments, and their data show a very surprising result: that neutrino's were travelling faster than the speed of light. As a result they have published their data so that other scientists can examine them and see what's going on.

If this is found to be true, it would turn general and special relativity upside down, and these are two very well tested theories.

It is possible that this is due to some as of yet undiscovered experimental error.

Bring the mood down why don't ya!!!! :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Nodin

Kevin Duffy wrote: »

I so hope this is true, just for the general advancement of science.

and for the whole IBTL movement.

GLaDOS

Deleted User wrote: »

Let's not sensationalise here please. Scientists have done a series of experiments, and their data show a very surprising result: that neutrino's were travelling faster than the speed of light. As a result they have published their data so that other scientists can examine them and see what's going on.

If this is found to be true, it would turn general and special relativity upside down, and these are two very well tested theories.

It is possible that this is due to some as of yet undiscovered experimental error.

Quite true, but still very exciting. I look forward to seeing if the results can be replicated.

Saila

bah there was more wind that day :rolleyes:


so instead of 10 nano seconds it was 50, slightly faster

orourkeda

Kevin Duffy wrote: »

I so hope this is true, just for the general advancement of science.

How will it advance science. If I understand it correctly (which I dont) then this will disprove the entire basis of modern phsics as stated in the article.

smk89

"Scientists break the speed of light by holding a torch and running forward."
Link

MrStuffins

orourkeda wrote: »

How will it advance science. If I understand it correctly (which I dont) then this will disprove the entire basis of modern phsics as stated in the article.

Which will show that the current models were all wrong and we will have to work towards discovering the actual true model.

I'd have thought that was obvious?

Zebra3

joshrogan wrote: »

Scientists have surpassed the speed of light!

That was quick.

Kevin Duffy

orourkeda wrote: »

How will it advance science. If I understand it correctly (which I dont) then this will disprove the entire basis of modern phsics as stated in the article.

Which would be a massive advance. Any new knowledge, any further learning, anything which eliminates something which was wrong even if it doesn't tell us what is right, is a step forward. We may have to reassess all the physics so far, but that's how we move forward.

Orando Broom

They saved the announcement for Arthur's Day too!

Another reason to celebrate!

Captain_Generic

orourkeda wrote: »

I used to argue the KFC was a massive waste of money

If science can prove anything, its that fried chicken is never a waste of money

Joey the lips

1.21 gigawhatts.....Great scott.

ejmaztec

orourkeda wrote: »

That einstein isnt so clever now is he?

He was certainly no Einstein.

MrStuffins

orourkeda wrote: »

That einstein isnt so clever now is he?

E = mc PWND!!!!!

sideswipe

Cool, i've been waiting for this to solve all my problems. I shall go back in time and tell everybody that the property market is a big bubble waiting to burst..........oh wait Bertie will probably still tell me to go a commit suicide, ah well I shall buy gold sell bank shares and not draw down on my mortgage for my 600,000 euro house that is now worth about 300,000. God bless scientists, time travel and flux capacitors. see you all in 2005 I'll post when I get there.

CorkMan

I say the US Government holds back any huge discovery in Science. If the US found something big in physics, why would they let China, Russia know? They could advance their military using the new discovery.

v300

Warp drive here we come.

And time travel too.

Thrill

Could this mean faster that light broadband?

amacachi

opinion guy wrote: »

I love paradigm shifts.

I used to argue the LHC was a massive waste of money but damn it its worth it for how much its proving all the theories wrong:D

Your changing your view is definitely the most important paradigm shift today.

MrStuffins

CorkMan wrote: »

I say the US Government holds back any huge discovery in Science. If the US found something big in physics, why would they let China, Russia know? They could advance their military using the new discovery.

Wow, so you CAN go back in time! :rolleyes:

Captain_Generic

MrStuffins wrote: »

Wow, so you CAN go back in time! :rolleyes:

You've obviously never been to Cork

MrStuffins

Thrill wrote: »

Could this mean faster that light broadband?

UP TO faster than light!

RachaelVO

RachaelVO wrote: »

Bring the mood down why don't ya!!!! :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Mood has no place in science.

CoolHat

So faster than light is warp speed right?

Pompey Magnus

Thrill wrote: »

Could this mean faster that light broadband?

Yes, your porn will be finished downloading before you even decide you want to watch it.

That rocks! Warp factor 8, Ensign.

Engage.

Logical Fallacy

Traveling faster than light does not infer time travel, it just means it's dark when you get there.

im invisible

...and the barman says 'we obey the laws of physics in here'

im invisible

A neutrino walks into a bar...

Captain_Generic

Deleted User wrote: »

That rocks! Warp factor 8, Ensign.

Engage.

*Deep breath*

Neeeeerrrrrdddd



(I love star trek)

opinion guy

MrStuffins wrote: »

I always thought that the LHC would succeed in serendipidously discovering something massive! I hope this is it!

Are you kidding ? Haven't you been paying attention ?

Because of the LHC they already think they will have to chuck out Supersymmetry (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14680570) and because of this (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14948730) they may have to chuck or rework dark matter.

amacachi wrote: »

Your changing your view is definitely the most important paradigm shift today.

Ha are you kidding me an all ? The supersymmetry story was enough to convince me. This is just icing on the cake. What I expected would happen was that the LHC would churn out relatively predictable results as most particle accelerators have done for a while. What I didn't expect and what I think is awesome is that its singlehandedly turning physics on its head. I mean there is a revolution going on in physics here that we are witnessing. Its the most exciting time in physics in about 100 years. Physics was a field in decline in comparison to biology and biochemistry - seems like all that is about to change. Its been blazingly obvious for a long time that the theory had got wildly ahead of the experiment and gone into the realm of fantasy and universes on the back of giant turtles. Finally some work is chucking out the lunacy.

So yeah I was wrong about the LHC. Long may it continue to fascinate!

pljudge321

opinion guy wrote: »

I love paradigm shifts.

I used to argue the LHC was a massive waste of money but damn it its worth it for how much its proving all the theories wrong:D

This wasn't an LHC experiment.

This BBC article is a bit less hysteric than any of the others I've read so far.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15017484

Orando Broom

I presume all results in physics in the Leaving Cert up to this point will now be invalidated.

Back of then queue poindexters!!

opinion guy

pljudge321 wrote: »

This wasn't an LHC experiment.

This BBC article is a bit less hysteric than any of the others I've read so far.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15017484

I know.
Smeh.....details details

Captain_Generic

Captain_Generic wrote: »

Deleted User wrote: »

That rocks! Warp factor 8, Ensign.

Engage.

*Deep breath*

Neeeeerrrrrdddd



(I love star trek)

Ah but I bet you read it in his voice!

MrStuffins

opinion guy wrote: »

Are you kidding ? Haven't you been paying attention ?

Because of the LHC they already think they will have to chuck out Supersymmetry (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14680570) and because of this (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14948730) they may have to chuck or rework dark matter.

pah, that story is from last month! Haven't you heard? Future news is where it's at these days!